Improvement in corn-harvesters



@with tatrs @stent @ffice EDMUND W. QUINCY, OF LACON, ILLINOIS.

Letters Patent .ZV'o.-79,.775, dated July 7, 1868.

.IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-HARVESTERS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Be it known that I, EDMUND W. QUINCY, of Lacon, inthe county of Marshall, and State of Illinois, have invented a. new and useful Corn-Harvester and Shucker; and I do declare that the following is a clear and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,.reference being had to the annexed drawings.

Figure 1 is a. perspective View of my invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is'a detached view of -a bucket.

Toenable othersskilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

This invention consists 'of a mechanism for gathering ears ofcorn from the' stalks in the field, and shucking the saine at one operation, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

I employ a wooden frame, composed of two side-pieces, a', and two cross-pieces, a, the latter being bolted to the former, thus avoiding the use of mortises and tenons. Within this frame are placed the gearingand masterwheels, by means of which the machine `is moved and operated. To the forward cross-piece a are attached the thills Zi, for the connection ofa draught-animal. To each thill, near its rear end, is' attached an elevatingapparatus, the same consisting of a board'frame, c, of suitable height, at the top of which are placed brackets, c', which support a shaft, d, bearingvat each end atoothed roller, d. Over each roller d runs an endless chain, e, passing around suitable'mechanism at the bottom. l

'-To the endless chain, buckets i are fastened horizontally, the same consisting preferably of malleable' iron, and being four in. number, each twenty-two inches long, four inches wide, and eight deep. These dimensions are suggested as the most convenient. The outer edge of each bucket may be sharp or blunt, as desired, its function being to detach ears of corn fromthe stalk, an operation which maybe performed by a blunt edge .when the ears are dry, but which requires a sharp one when the ears are moist. The forward ends of the buckets I have represented as peaked, the slope being from the outer to the inner side thereof, in order toA press the stalks with which they may come in contact, toward the brace-boards 7c. I do not intend, however, to limit myself to this sha-pe of the. ends of my buckets, as they may be made square or round. Metallic fingers, z', are placed on the front edges of the buckets to assist in the operation, or theseflngers may be fastened to a band' attached to the endless chains, buckets being dispensed with. I'con'sider, however, the use of buckets more advantageous than their. disuso. v

c represents a board frame, of somewhat larger dimensions than the frame c, and fastened to the latter or the brackets c', by means of metallic braces k, at asuiiicient distance to admit of the inclusion, between the two frames c and k, of the stalks in a hill ofcorn; the machine being intended to be drawnvbetwcen two rows, and to include the stalks of bothat thefsame-tiine between its two sets of frames c and/c, it being my intention to have two frames lc, which AI call brace-boards, one at each side.

By means of suitable gearing, niotion is communicated to the elevating-apparatus as the machine is drawn along. 'lhe stalks are prcsseduby the sloping ends of the buckets against `the brace-boards, and by them are prevented from boing beaten down sol as to escape the action of the machine by the buckets, as they come in contact with the lower parts ofthe stalks. In order to facilitate the entrance ofthe stalks between thebnekets and the braceboards, the latter are provided at their front edges with vertical rollers Z, firmly attached to said brace-boards, yet in such manner as to be capableof rotation under thevpressure of the stalks. The latter being compressed between the buckets and `the brace-board, the edges thereof detach the ears, which fall into the buckets. The ears on the opposite sides of the stalks next the-bracc-board, which the edges of the buckets cannot come in contact with, are reached and detached by the fingers The cars are conveyed by thc buckets upward and over the top of the elevating-apparatus, until the buckets are inverted, when their contents fall into thc spout m. Within this spout works an endless apron, armed with prongs m', by moans o f which the ears are conveyed one after another to the month of the spout, which is closed with a piece of sheet metal. n.

in' which is the shucking-oriiice 11.',arounzl'which are teeth, so arranged that as'theears pass through the oriiice, the husks are stripped oil` them.` The ears pass on and are conveyed away by an apparatus not shown.

The ears are forced throughthe orifice n by means of the prongs m. The teeth around the orifice are exible and elastic, so as to accommodate themselves to ears of diiercntisizes. i

It will be seen that by placing the master-wheels within the frame, and the elevating-apparatus with -the buckets upon the thills, I obtain spaceA for the stalks to pass'clear from' contact with anything but the buckets.

rEhe apparatus above referred to as conveying away the stripped ears, consists of a spout. leading into a wagon running by the side of the machine; said spoutbeing hinged so as to communicate with a wagon ruiming at eitherrside ofthe machine. The fingers z' may occasionally operate with advantage, if made with a, cutting-edge, as when the ears of corn are moist. To facilitate the employingof the buckets, their rear sides should not be as high as their front sides, as the discharge of the contents takes place over the rear sides, when the buckets are suiiiciently turned up. v v i Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to.seeure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The brace-board la, applied to a corn-harvesting machineLsubstantially as and lfor the purpose described.

2. rlhe elevating and gathering-apparatus,constructed as described, when applied, incombination'with the braceboard k, to a corn-harvesting machine, substantially as and'for the purpose described. I

3. The'icombination of the shuckingv with the gathering-apparntus, 4the former consisting of' the lspout m with its endless apron, said apron having prongs m', and theplate u with its stripping-orifice n', Asaid orifice being made capable'of4 accommodating itself to earsofdififerent sizes, as and forthe purpose set-forth.

4. The buckets zfwhen constructed with their front sides higher than their rear sides, as and for the purpose described.

5. The vertical rollers Z in combination with the brace-boards, as and for the'purposes described.

, -EDM'UND W. QULNCY.

Witnesses:

Guo. E. BROWN,

Cms. YF. BROWN. 

